There are 11 currently vacant rooms above the station. When it was opened in 1851 the Station Master and his family lived upstairs and coal fires heated all the rooms. More recently it was rented out as a large flat until around 2010, when it was vacated. Network Rail who own the building, in conjunction with TfGM and Northern, now have ring-fenced funding to upgrade it to modern standards making it habitable again with a replacement kitchen and bathroom and wifi.
The building work is expected to be completed by early 2023, when rooms will rented out to several small businesses and there will also be facilities for hot-desking by the hour/day.
The Friends have been allocated one large room [number 10] for their meetings in perpetuity. Children’s Railway Safety lessons will be run from here using a demonstration OO train set, to educate local junior schoolchildren about the dangers on railways.
This room will also be used for local community groups who will book it on an hourly/ daily basis.
To celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022, the Friends found a novel way to put a smile on the faces of both rail users and local residents. Building on the 2013 Royal visit, the Friends purchased life-sized figures of the Queen, Prince Charles and four Grenadier Guards which were displayed in the booking office. The Queen and her Guards then took a Northern Rail train to Piccadilly station and back. They also all popped into her pub, ‘The Elizabethan’ , for a free quick drink. Finally, ticking off yet another bucket-list experience, she had a ride on the world famous 192 bus. Lady Barbara Judson, one of our FofHCS committee members, led this project.
This display in the booking office, and shows items that might have been taken on holidays by railway passengers in the 1865s, including a Bradshaw’s Railway Manual 1865.
27 people attended an exploratory meeting on 5th July 2011 to discuss setting up a new group, initially as part of the Sustainable Living in the Heatons, to then become the Friends of Heaton Chapel Station group an inaugural meeting on 24th July 2011 was in St. Thomas’s Church.
The first chairman was Rory Aiken 2011-2014, followed by Clyde Raine 2014 – 2017, currently Phil Rowbotham 2017 – onwards
FofHCS has won many numerous awards over the last 10 years the first award was a national ACoRP [Association of Community Rail Partnerships] first prize award for the Running Man panels on platform 2 [the panels were are are still generously sponsored by local businesses] In 2020, FofHCS won for the third time, a Cheshire Best Kept Station Award.
Northern Rail has 479 stations FofHCS currently is the largest Friends group in Northern Rail with 129 members and it is one of the most active
FofHCS only has volunteers and all projects are funded by grants, local sponsors and the £2 membership fees. In 2018 over a million passengers used Heaton Chapel Station [HTC] Heaton Chapel Station is the busiest two platform station in Greater Manchester, still without disabled access. The access ramps are extremely steep, have no relief landings, and are not suitable for wheelchairs. Two lifts are urgently needed. On platform 1 [Stockport bound] from road level to platform level. On platform 2 [Manchester bound] : a lift will provide access from road level via the booking office down to the platform, and also up to the eight large Station House Community rooms on the first floor.
Funding is now in place to upgrade all the upper rooms in Station House all the eight rooms will be for community use. Station House is expected to be upgraded soon, between late 2021 to early 2022, which will be open to selected community groups
Our M.P. Navendu Mistra kindly attended the 10th birthday event as a VIP guest he unveiled a plaque on platform 2 on Saturday 24th July 2021 at 2p.m. refreshments were provided to invited guests. Nav made a speech followed by a toast to the future of FofHCS.
Cheshire Best Kept Station Award 2018 Tree Planting Gardening Defibrilator 4 Heatons Easter Egg Trail The Station House Scarecrows 125 mph Azuma Simulator 24ft Heritage Sign
The Friends of Heaton Chapel Station have raised funds to purchase and arranged to have fitted a Defibrillator to the station building. This is for anyone to use if you suspect someone is having a cardiac arrest.
If someone suddenly collapses and is unconscious then you should ring 999 immediately. then either get them to the machine, or go and pick the machine up. You need a code to open the box the 999 operator will tell you what this is. The Defibrillator is easy to use, and can be used without any training, it ‘talks’ you through each step of using it.
However if you wish to familiarise yourself with the procedure there is a handy youtube video here:
Please note that every time the defibrillator is used, the pads need to be replaced and cost £60, if you know someone, or a business who would like to help towards these costs then please contact fofhcs@gmail.com
Your on-going support with a monthly donation will provide us a regular income to help us budget, and will go directly to improving the platforms and stations. We will buying flowers and plants, paint for artwork, etc.
The Cheshire Best Kept Station Awards were held on 6th February 2019 at the Grange Theatre, Hartford. The Friends of Heaton Chapel Station were delighted to be awarded the 2018 Best Kept Station Art Project Award for our artwork beneath Heaton Moor Road bridge, on the ramp down to platform 2.
Many thanks to all the FofHCS volunteers who helped prepare the walls and create the artwork.
The booking office was upgraded in 2018 and a mural of steam engine LNER ‘Peppercorn class’ A1 60163 was painted by a professional artist.
Tornado became the first steam locomotive to officially reach 100 mph on British tracks for over 50 years. It is a 4-6-2steam locomotive completed in 2008 to an original design by Arthur Peppercorn
It occasionally still passes through Heaton Chapel Station.
